A dansa (ˈdansɔ, ˈdansə or ˈdansa; modern Occitan spelling: dança) was an Occitan form of lyric poetry

Lyric poetry

Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...

 developed in the late thirteenth century among the troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

s. It is related to the English term "dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

" and was often accompanied by dancing. A closely related form, the balada or balaresc, had a more complex structure, and is related to the ballade

Ballade

The ballade is a form of French poetry. It was one of the three formes fixes and one of the verse forms in France most commonly set to music between the late 13th and the 15th centuries....

 but unrelated to the ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

. Both terms derive from Occitan words for "to dance": dansar and balar/ballar.

A dansa begins with a respos of one or two lines, whose rhyme scheme

Rhyme scheme

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern of end rhymes or lines...

 matches that of the first line or two of each subsequent cobla

Cobla (Occitan literary term)

A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were...

. The actual respos may have been repeated between stanzas, of which there were usually three, as a refrain

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

. The few surviving melodies of dansas seem like incipient virelai

Virelai

A virelai is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three formes fixes and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.A virelai is similar to a rondeau...

s. The verses of the dansa were sung by a soloist

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 while the refrain was sung by a choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

. A dansa lacking a vuelta is called a danseta.

In a balada each stanza is divided into three parts. The first part and second part are identical, each ending with the same rhyme as the first line of the poem. The third part of the stanza is identical to the refrain (refranh) in form. The refrain, which begins the song, is repeated after each stanza. In a balada the lines of the choir and the soloist could mix.

A desdansa (or desdança) was the opposite of a dansa, not in form but in content. Whereas a dansa had joyful lyrics and lively music, a desdansa was sad and lamenting, much like a planh

Planh

The planh or plaing is a funeral lament used by the troubadours, modeled on the medieval Latin planctus. It differed from the planctus in that it was intended for a secular audience...

 designed for dance. The desdansa is defined, and exemplified, in the Cançoneret de Ripoll

Cançoneret de Ripoll

The Cançoneret de Ripoll , now manuscript 129 of Ripoll in the Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó, is a short Catalan-Occitan chansonnier produced in the mid-fourteenth century but after 1346, when Peter IV of Aragon held a poetry competition which is mentioned in the chansonnier...

.

List of dansas and baladas

Composer	Incipit Incipit Incipit is a Latin word meaning "it begins". The incipit of a text, such as a poem, song, or book, is the first few words of its opening line. In music, it can also refer to the opening notes of a composition. Before the development of titles, texts were often referred to by their incipits...  (i.e. title)	Date	Notes
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Be volgra, s'esser pogues
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Domna, si tot no.us es preza
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Gen m'auci
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Ges ancara
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Lo fi cor qu'ie.us ai		Sometimes called a balada or dansa
Guiraut d'Espaigna	No posc plus sofrir
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Na Ses Merce
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Per amor soi gai		A pastorela Pastorela The pastorela was an Occitan lyric genre used by the troubadours. It gave rise to the Old French pastourelle. The central topic was always meeting of a knight with a shepherdess, which may lead to any of a number of possible conclusions. They are usually humorous pieces...  in the form of a dansa
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Pos ses par
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Sa gaja semblansa
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Si la bela que.m plai no.m plai
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Si.l dous jois d'amor
Guiraut d'Espaigna	Si no.m secor domna gaja
Paulet de Marseilla	Bela domna plazens, ai
Serveri de Girona	A la pluga a.l vent iran		A balada that Serveri labels an espingadura
Serveri de Girona	Com es ta mal ensenyada		A dansa that Serveri labels a peguesca
Serveri de Girona	No.l prenatz los fals marit iana delgada		A balada that Serveri labels a viadeyra Viadeyra The viadera was a lyric genre of Catalan and Occitan literature invented by the troubadours. It was a dance song devised to lighten the burden of a long voyage or to enliven the trip. It was a popular as opposed to "high" form and only infrequently used by cultivated poets...
Serveri de Girona	Pus on vey leys
Serveri de Girona	Si voletz que.m laix d'amar
Serveri de Girona	Tant ay el cor d'alegrança'		A sirventes Sirventes The sirventes or serventes is a genre of Occitan lyric poetry used by the troubadours. In early Catalan it became a sirventesch and was imported into that language in the fourteenth century, where it developed into a unique didactic/moralistic type... –dansa
Serveri de Girona	Tot can cors dezira
Uc de Saint Circ Uc de Saint Circ Uc de Saint Circ or Hugues de Saint Circq was a troubadour from Quercy. Uc is perhaps most significant to modern historians as the probable author of several vidas and razos of other troubadours, though only one of Bernart de Ventadorn exists under his name...	Una danseta voil far
	A l'entrada del tens clar
	Amors m'art con fuoc ab flama		Perhaps a fragmentary canso Canso (song) The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...
	Ara l'ausetz		Perhaps a parody Parody A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...  (parodique) of a dansa
	Coindeta sui, si cum n'ai greu cossire
	D'amor m'estera ben e gent
	Mort m'an li semblan que ma dona.m fai
	Plazens plasers, tant vos am e.us dezir		Consists of a single cobla Cobla (Occitan literary term) A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were...
	Pos la dousor del temps gay
	Pos qu'ieu vey la fuella		Two coblas Cobla (Occitan literary term) A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were... , perhaps a single canso Canso (song) The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...
	Pres soi ses faillencha		Two coblas Cobla (Occitan literary term) A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were... , perhaps a single canso Canso (song) The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...
	Quant lo gilos er fora
	S'anc vos
	Se nus hom per ben servir
	Si tot chantar non m'enansa
	Tant es gay'es avinentz		A fragment: two coblas Cobla (Occitan literary term) A cobla is a stanza in Occitan lyric poetry, the art form of the troubadours. Though not usually standalone work in itself, in many instances a cobla or two is all that survives of what was once a complete poem. Each cobla of a song was usually played to the same melody, but a few songs were... , probably of a dansa, perhaps a canso Canso (song) The canso is a song style used by the troubadours. It consists of three parts. The first stanza is the exordium, where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the exordium. The canso can end...